Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would meet heads of State Bank of India and other public sector banks on Monday to review their performance and the progress madeon various initiatives and schemes launched by the government for accelerating the economy battered by pandemic and runaway inflation due to external shocks. 

At the upcoming review meeting to be chaired by Sitharaman, the areas that will be taken up include credit growth, asset quality and recovery, NPAs of over ₹ 100 crore besides capital raising and investor relations, sources said. 

This review meeting comes at a time when banks’ credit growth has been picking up and quite robust, which saw credit growth of 11.3 per cent in April 2022 (year-on-year), partly aided by low base effect. 

Credit growth has also been bolstered by some shift to bank borrowings by corporates due to subdued sentiments in capital markets that has seen sharp sell off in recent months and higher working capital requirements for companies due to elevated inflation. 

At the review meeting, Sitharaman is also expected to discuss progress of Financial Inclusion related Schemes besides the schemes announced under Atma Nirbhar Bharat such as AIF, AHIDF and PMFME. Progress of Kisan Credit Cards saturation drive will also be discussed, sources added. 

The RBI has projected Indian economy’s growth rate in 2022-23 at 7.2 per cent. 

Indian economy, which consolidated its recovery in FY22 with most constituents surpassing pre-pandemic levels of activity, recorded growth rate of 8.7 per cent in 2021-22 as compared to 6.6 per cent contraction in previous fiscal. 

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